ik |The Friday.

Newsletter

No. 52

News Briefs

...Slim Wright (left) and Jack Cole

SLIM WRIGHT WINS FIRST 'RANGER OF THE YEAR' AWARD: Raymond O. (Slim)

Wright, Animal Packer for the Wapiti Ranger District on the Shoshone National Forest in R-2, has been presented the first annual Ranger of the Year Award by the National Forest Recreation Association (NFRA).

Jack Cole, NFRA president, who present¬ ed the award to the veteran mule packer, called Slim a "legend in his own time." He was cited for his outstanding work and safe¬ ty record, community activities, and his

For further information, contact the Editor of the

1690 ' December 23, 1982

model of service and public assistance. The presentation was made at the association's annual convention in Las Vegas.

GRAZING FEES LOWERED FOR 1983:

Fees for grazing livestock on both the Na¬ tional Forests and National Grasslands in the 17 western states will be reduced again this year. The National Forest fee will be $1.45 per animal month and the grazing value for National Grasslands will be $2.86.

The fees are determined by a formula set in the Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978. The fees are lower again this year because the prices farmers and ranchers re¬ ceived for beef declined while the costs of livestock production increased.

The Bureau of Land Management, USDI, will also charge a $1.45 per animal month grazing fee.

STRONG DEMAND FOR FUELWOOD WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT DECADE: John

Hornick, WO Forest Biomass Energy Coordina¬ tor, reports that a strong demand for fuel- wood will continue through the 1980's.

John said it is pretty well accepted that wood currently contributes about 3 per¬ cent of the nation's energy, which is just under 75 quads per year (a quad is a quad¬ rillion BTU's, or the energy produced by about 50 million cords of wood).

A recent study by Housing Industry Dy¬ namics indicated that wood stove sales in 1981 were about two million units, and that the residential use of firewood continues to increase at the rate of 10 percent a year. The study also showed that 540,000 factory- built fireplaces were installed in new or remodeled homes during the year. These sta¬ tistics were supported by other studies done by the Department of Energy and private groups, he said.

Friday Newsletter, Office of Information, WO.

Relatively stable oil prices during the past two years have slowed the trend to in¬ creasing firewood use, but it is still going up, John said, adding that the Solar Energy Digest reports that $800 million in multi¬ fuel boilers which can burn wood fuel in ad¬ dition to conventional fuels are on order for delivery in 1983. Some estimates call for a $1.5 billion market for these boilers in the year 2000.

Both the residential and industrial markets have the capability for quickly ad¬ justing to greater dependence on wood, when¬ ever conditions warrant.

Legislation

1983 APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE:

The Forest Service is solvent! Congress ap¬ proved the Interior and Related Agencies Ap¬ propriations Bill on Dec. 19, after House and Senate conferees worked out their dif¬ ferences. The bill is expected to be signed by the President.

Major items in the bill are:

Research - $105.0 million.

S&PF - $62.3 million.

NFS - $1,010 billion.

Construction - $281.4 million.

Land Acquisition - $56.8 million.

An amount of $10 million is also appro¬ priated for YCC, of which $3.4 million is available for the Forest Service in the Na¬ tional Forest System, $3.3 million for the National Park Service, and $3.3 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

We will keep you updated on the bill and give you more details as it they become available.

New Releases

*The following publication was recently issued by the Washington Office, and is available from Regional Offices, Stations and Area Offices.

The Private Forest-Land Owners of the United States

This publication is a report on a 1978 survey of private forest-land owners, based on 1 1,076 questionnaires. The report shows about 7.8 million ownership units encompass 333 million acres of privately-owned forest land in the United States. The report con¬ tains regional and subregional breakdowns on form of ownership, owner's occupation, age, sex, race, residence, education, and size class of ownership.

Personnel Actions

R-8 — Dick Cox, Director of Aviation and Fire Management, R-8, promoted in place.

R-9 — Dario D'Angelo, Director of Admin¬ istrative Services, R-10, promoted to Direc¬ tor for Management Services, R-10.

Chief

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